Adam Strange
|history= What is his story? - Strange started out as an archaeologist. He was born in Gotham in the early 1900s, an era of magic, murder and magnificent music, and soon proved to be a brilliant young man. His grades in school were so high that he found himself "fast-tracked" to university in his mid-teens, however, with the coming of the Second World War he - like so many others - volunteered to fight. Initially he had assumed the war would put his archaeology and anthropology studies on hold - however, when Hitler began to show an interest in the legends and artifacts of various cultures (seeking an edge that would win him the war), the Allied Forces found a use for Adam Strange's knowledge. He joined a specialized unit (the 105th - calling themselves the 'Grave robbers') that worked closely with the S.S.R. (Strategic Scientific Reserve), dedicated to keeping those artifacts out of Nazi hands. He was a veritable "Indiana Jones". He even had the hat. In the middle of 1943, Strange disappeared from Peru in a beam of brilliant white-yellow light, the survivors of the expedition assumed he had been killed, too (a Nazi weapon perhaps). But it was not a weapon. The phenomenon (which Strange would soon come to call a "Zeta-beam") was in fact a teleportation matter-stream that singled out Strange (he learned later he wasn't the only one) and transported him... to another world, twenty-five trillion miles from Earth. That world was called Rann. A scientist named Sardath approached Strange and tried to explain that he had been behind the Zeta-technology. He showed his "visitor" the Zeta-platform, and then his research into the genetic degradation of his race. Despite the initial language barrier, Strange learned that he (among others) was intended to help the Rannians by introducing new genetic material (without harming him, of course). Strange agreed. It helped that Sardath also had a beautiful daughter - Alanna - and she and Strange began to form a relationship. Necessity forced him to make several visits back to earth, while the scientists on Rann endeavored to find a way to make his physiology more compatible with Rannian atmosphere. It was difficult, considering Rannian society had become stagnant over time, and plenty of other societies in the galaxy had preyed upon them. Genetically, they were a dying race. Scientifically, they had grown complacent and sloppy in its use. Emotionally, they had lost the will to fight. They had no army, no navy... and even if they did - who would lead them? They were desperate. Ways were found to prolong Adam's lifespan (which involved gene therapy, as well as some time in stasis, intermittently), and help him adapt to Rann's environment. In return, he brought every ounce of his drive, his intellect and his warrior spirit to helping the Rannians overcome a number of threats (both from without Rannian culture, and from within). As the years went by, he was dubbed 'Saviour of Rann' and the 'Warrior From Two Worlds'. He married Alanna, had a daughter - Aleea - and worked with Sardath to perfect 'Zeta-Technology', allowing him to 'beam' himself across star systems in the blink of an eye. An accident with the Zeta-Tech cost Strange his vision. He had to have new eyes /grown/ - cloned from a Rannian donor... his daughter. As a result, he found he could see all across the electromagnetic spectrum (just like any other Rannian). This came in handy with tracking stolen Zeta-Tech across the galaxy - even back to Earth, where he had dealings with the 'successor' organization to the S.S.R., namely, S.H.I.E.L.D. He became something of a consultant. In more recent days, when Strange was away studying ancient alien cultures - Rann vanished. Nothing was left of the world, or even its solar system, but radioactive debris. Grief-stricken, Adam left in search of his adopted home... and found nothing. Eventually, he threw himself into "cross-galactic crime-fighting", and he did not care if it killed him. Fortunately, he was not the only "good guy" to be found in such dark corners of the galaxy, and he was encouraged to give Earth a chance - it was, after all, the only home he had left. }} Category:Character